fection. You should expect to see:

· Personnel wearing surgical scrubs

· Disposable gloves, fresh for each patient

· Double sterile procedure – a second set of sterilized equipment used on your second eye

· Use of an autoclave to sterilize instruments

Interaction with your eye surgeon

You would want to choose an eye surgeon who spends time with you:

· Initially

· During the procedure

· For follo

A selective eye surgeon

We’re not all equally good candidates for LASIK. Avoid those eye doctors whose facilities process multitudes of patients at a lower cost. LASIK done properly demands a thorough pre-examination of your eyes.

A thorough pre-op exam

To identify you as a good candidate for LASIK, there should be a detailed eye examination. It should be high-tech, using sophisticated devices such as:

· A phoropter – to check your current glasses prescription. The phoropter is a device with multiple lenses on each side. You don’t see them while it’s being used though, because you’re looking through one pair of lenses and telling the doctor whether you see more or less clearly with that pair than with the previous pair.

· Fluoracaine or a similar dye – to examine your corneal surfaces. The dye stains the cornea and makes it glow, so that using a bright light, your eye surgeon can clearly see the irregularities on the surface.

· An auto-refractor – to calculate how much correction your vision needs. As you look into this device at a specific image, the auto-refractor changes the magnification of the image until it’s in focus for you. Using an infra-red light, the machine can determine when the image is in focus; you don’t have to tell it.

· A corneal topographer – to map the corneas. Using infra-red light, this device gathers light from hundreds of points on your eyes and uses this information to create a digital map of each eye.

· A pupilometer – to measure the diameter of your pupils. In darkness, and then in light, an infra-red light is shone into your eyes. It’s reflected back to a small sensor, which measures the change in pupil size.

Sterile Technique

LASIK is a surgery and must be done in a way to best prevent infection. You should expect to see:

· Personnel wearing surgical scrubs

· Disposable gloves, fresh for each patient

· Double sterile procedure – a second set of sterilized equipment used on your second eye

· Use of an autoclave to sterilize instruments

Interaction with your eye surgeon

You would want to choose an eye surgeon who spends time with you:

· Initially

· During the procedure

· For follo

ck your current glasses prescription. The phoropter is a device with multiple lenses on each side. You don’t see them while it’s being used though, because you’re looking through one pair of lenses and telling the doctor whether you see more or less clearly with that pair than with the previous pair.

· Fluoracaine or a similar dye – to examine your corneal surfaces. The dye stains the cornea and makes it glow, so that using a bright light, your eye surgeon can clearly see the irregularities on the surface.

· An auto-refractor – to calculate how much correction your vision needs. As you look into this device at a specific image, the auto-refractor changes the magnification of the image until it’s in focus for you. Using an infra-red light, the machine can determine when the image is in focus; you don’t have to tell it.

· A corneal topographer – to map the corneas. Using infra-red light, this device gathers light from hundreds of points on your eyes and uses this information to create a digital map of each eye.

· A pupilometer – to measure the diameter of your pupils. In darkness, and then in light, an infra-red light is shone into your eyes. It’s reflected back to a small sensor, which measures the change in pupil size.

Sterile Technique

LASIK is a surgery and must be done in a way to best prevent infection. You should expect to see:

· Personnel wearing surgical scrubs

· Disposable gloves, fresh for each patient

· Double sterile procedure – a second set of sterilized equipment used on your second eye

· Use of an autoclave to sterilize instruments

Interaction with your eye surgeon

You would want to choose an eye surgeon who spends time with you:

· Initially

· During the procedure

· For follo

ur eye surgeon can clearly see the irregularities on the surface.

· An auto-refractor – to calculate how much correction your vision needs. As you look into this device at a specific image, the auto-refractor changes the magnification of the image until it’s in focus for you. Using an infra-red light, the machine can determine when the image is in focus; you don’t have to tell it.

· A corneal topographer – to map the corneas. Using infra-red light, this device gathers light from hundreds of points on your eyes and uses this information to create a digital map of each eye.

· A pupilometer – to measure the diameter of your pupils. In darkness, and then in light, an infra-red light is shone into your eyes. It’s reflected back to a small sensor, which measures the change in pupil size.

Sterile Technique

LASIK is a surgery and must be done in a way to best prevent infection. You should expect to see:

· Personnel wearing surgical scrubs

· Disposable gloves, fresh for each patient

· Double sterile procedure – a second set of sterilized equipment used on your second eye

· Use of an autoclave to sterilize instruments

Interaction with your eye surgeon

You would want to choose an eye surgeon who spends time with you:

· Initially

· During the procedure

· For follo

a-red light, this device gathers light from hundreds of points on your eyes and uses this information to create a digital map of each eye.

· A pupilometer – to measure the diameter of your pupils. In darkness, and then in light, an infra-red light is shone into your eyes. It’s reflected back to a small sensor, which measures the change in pupil size.

Sterile Technique

LASIK is a surgery and must be done in a way to best prevent infection. You should expect to see:

· Personnel wearing surgical scrubs

· Disposable gloves, fresh for each patient

· Double sterile procedure – a second set of sterilized equipment used on your second eye

· Use of an autoclave to sterilize instruments

Interaction with your eye surgeon

You would want to choose an eye surgeon who spends time with you:

· Initially

· During the procedure

· For follo

fection. You should expect to see:

· Personnel wearing surgical scrubs

· Disposable gloves, fresh for each patient

· Double sterile procedure – a second set of sterilized equipment used on your second eye

· Use of an autoclave to sterilize instruments

Interaction with your eye surgeon

You would want to choose an eye surgeon who spends time with you:

· Initially

· During the procedure

· For follow-up

In some LASIK facilities the surgeon does the procedure itself but delegates everything else. These are the facilities where swarms of patients have to be seen because fees charged are low. So each patient has to be pushed through quickly and given as little attention as possible, including little screening and possibly no follow-up at all.

A good LASIK surgeon is a highly skilled person and his or her time is valuable. You would surely want to know that your entire LASIK procedure is in skilled hands and is being monitored by a highly trained person.

High-end equipment

You have one pair of eyes and you will surely want to entrust them only to a surgeon who uses the best equipment. LASIK is a young surgery and equipment and instruments are still improving, so the most recent are usually the best and most accurate.

Exciting results

By the following day, you should expect dramatically improved vision, usually 80-90% better. There’ll be about a month of recovery while the little flap heals completely, and during that time you should avoid touching your eyes. Use the drops your surgeon gives you, wear the eye shield while sleeping, and keep your follow-up appointments.

If you follow all your eye surgeon’s instructions, you can expect a changed life.